Sunday in New Orleans – it was sunny when we awoke which was a surprise since the forecast was for more of the same cloudy and sometimes rainy weather that we have had since arriving here. The weather forecast, however, indicated the clouds and possibly rain would arrive mid-morning. Having experienced the weekend crowds in the Center City and French Quarter we thought we would try another side of town for our indoor activity. So we planned a day at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) in City Park. Our GPS got us within a few blocks when we saw the roadblock. The nice policewomen indicated that we still could get to the Museum despite the Rock and Roll marathonif we turned right and went around the park. Yeah right! Those directions only brought us to another roadblock. But we persevered and two more roadblocks later an officer who actually knew what he was talking about said: “park here and walk”. A nice walk through park of the park midst thousands of runners in their cool down phase and we arrived at the Museum only to find the “Closed today because of the Marathon” sign on the front steps.

Scenes from City Park

So we rested a bit and enjoyed the scene before walking back to our car. At which point I had the brilliant idea to go to someplace away from all this and we decided on the Chalmette Battlefield National Historic Battlefield (last battle of the war of 1812 (actually fought after the war was over) – Andrew Jackson victor) and the GPS plotted out a route which curiously led by the neighborhood where we are staying.

All was good and we got within four miles of our destination when we saw another roadblock and heard music. We asked someone what was going on and were told it was a Second Line parade.

To quote Wikipedia:

Second line is a tradition in brass bandparades in New Orleans, Louisiana. The "main line" or "first line" is the main section of the parade, or the members of the actual club with the parading permit as well as the brass band. Those who follow the band just to enjoy the music are called the "second line." The second line's style of traditional dance, in which participants walk and sometimes twirl a parasol or handkerchief in the air, is called "second lining." It has been called "the quintessential New Orleans art form — a jazz funeral without a body."[1] Another significant difference from so called "jazz funerals" is second line parades usually lack the slow hymns and dirges played at funerals (although this is not a hard rule; some organizations may have the band play something solemn towards the start of the parade in memory of members deceased since their last parade).

Although we should have stopped and watched, we were hungry. Bad choice.

Our detour this time took us past Elizabeth's (New York Times review), our neighborhood restaurant, and so we decided to listen to our stomachs rather than our minds and join the crowd for Sunday brunch.

Brunch at Elizabeth’s seems to be a tradition of the young hip crowd as we were clearly the oldest folks in the room. After perusing the menu I decided on the Sweet Potato and Duck Hash over a corn waffle with hot pepper jelly and real maple syrup. Harry chose the French Toast stuffed with Bananas Foster. We agreed to split an order of Praline Bacon. That's right. Praline Bacon. As the New York Times says, "The thing to love about this restaurant is that somebody there tried to make bacon better. The result is praline bacon — a combination of pecan candy and salty pork.". Again, the meal was truly wonderful.

French Toast with Bananas Foster served with real maple syrup. Perhaps too many good flavors for one dish.

We shared an order of the Praline Bacon. Sweet and Salty: What's not to like?